St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-06-30
LEFT-HANDED EDUCATION.

The American people are naturally
disposed to be vain-glOriouS. We are
always Boosting of the progress we have
made over the times of our ancestors.
In no department are we mere inclined
to Self-laudation than in our educational
achievements. And yet every now and
then we stagger up against some serious
defect which serves to remind us that
it is sort of crawfiSh progress we are
making after all, or progress similar
to the military movement of the officer
i'll the Crimea who, in reply to an in
quiry from his commanding general
whether or not his troops were advanc-
ing, sad they were advancing to the
rear as rapidly as their legs would carry
them. The state of Iowa boasts of the
best school system in the Union, and its
capital city unfurls statistics to prove
that Des M0ines has smaller per cent
age of illiteracy than any city in
the world. And yet right along
by the side of that showing
the judge of the district court lays an
other statistical statement which shows
that there are more divorces in DeS
Moines in proportion to the population
than in any other city on earth. Now
the question arises, do increased educa-
tional facilities have tendency to cor
rupt the morals of the people? Is it the
old story of the Garden of Eden re-
peated, where mans desire to gain
knowledge betrays him into the pit of
death. Or is it, as a certain class of
pseudo-reformers claim, that as the
world grows more enlightened, it sets
lighter value on the marital relation,
and is more disposed to treat marriage
laws as an unjustifiable form of
tyranny. In other words. can it be that
an appreciation of the Internal doctrine
OF free love is to be the outcome of our
most advanced educational attainmentS.
Such would be fair inference
to be drawn from the Des Moines
case if there were not other elements to
be considered in connection with it.
We take it that the multiplicity of di-
vOrce cases in the Iowa courts is the re-
suit mainly of the loose laws in that state
relating to marriages and divorces. The
laXity of these laws is measurably due
to the fanatical temperance spirit which
governs Iowa. The public mind has
become so thoroughly absorbed in con-
Sideration of the temperance question
that it has neglected to make provisions
of defense against other immoralitieS of
a more dangerous nature. In the fierce
struggle to throttle the saloon, the peo-
pie of Iowa have forgotten to close the
gates against far more corrupting evil.
In blind attempt to rescue their young
men from intemperance, they have left
both their sons and daughters exposed
to the dangers of RIGHTEOUSNESS. We
may cloak it as we may, yet, after all,
when the sacredness of the marriage re-
lation is destroyed in the sight
of a people, it is nothing more or
les than giving them over to
open adultery. Intemperance is an
evil to be deplOred and to be got rid of
by every possible legitimate means, but
if the moral purity of a people is to be
preserved the chief thing to be done is
to maintain the soundneSs of the family
relation. We do not undertake to say
that there are not exceptional cases
where divorces are justified, but they
are so rare that they hardly need to find
a place in the statutes of state. 1t
would be better to have no divorce laws
than to have them administered in the
loose way Des MOines and Minneapolis
adopt. If the court records of those two
cities within the last year is the best
Chnyyinu fhaf fhn Il.
age can make, then we are forced to the
humiliating confession that our educa-
catiOnal methods are all left handed.